A study of 1,149 college students found that sleeping an average of 19 minutes more per day led to a small but measurable improvement in academic performance. Its effect was seen in the next semester even after the intervention was over.
Sleep and Academic Performance: A new study has revealed important findings regarding the relationship between sleep and academic performance of college students. In an experiment conducted on 1,149 students, those who were encouraged to sleep at least seven hours, their sleep increased by an average of 19 minutes and their course performance during the semester also improved.
19 minutes more sleep shows effect on academic performance
Lack of sleep is a common problem among college students. In the new study, researchers tried to know whether if students' sleep is increased, then it can have a direct impact on their studies and academic performance.
A total of 1,149 college students were included in this research published in the Journal of Political Economy. At the beginning of the study, students were sleeping an average of 6.6 hours per night. About 29 percent of weeknights they had less than six hours of sleep.
Researchers gave students Fitbit wearable devices to record their sleep duration and patterns. After this the participants were divided into different groups and one group was given a special intervention to increase sleep.
Students encouraged to sleep for 7 hours
Students in the intervention group were encouraged to sleep at least seven hours on weeknights. For this, personalized bedtime reminders were sent to them.
In addition, a financial incentive of $4.75 was given for every night for four weeks on which they met the prescribed sleep target. Students in the second, control group, also wore Fitbit, but were not given any specific instructions or financial incentives to increase sleep.
After this procedure, the number of nights getting seven hours of sleep increased by 26 percent in the intervention group. Total sleep duration also increased by an average of 19 minutes per night.
Effect continued even after intervention ended
A special feature of the study was that even after the reminders and financial incentives ended, the students slept more than before. Although the effect was smaller than before, students were still sleeping about 8 minutes longer on average.
The researchers then compared the students' sleep data to their official university transcripts. In this comparison, the academic performance of students who took more sleep also showed improvement.
The average course performance of students receiving the intervention improved by 0.075 to 0.089 grade points over the course of that semester. Similar improvement was seen in the next semester also. This indicated that the academic benefits of increasing sleep may persist for some time even after the intervention ends.
Study sheds light on causal link between sleep and grades
According to researchers, several earlier studies had observed a correlation between adequate sleep and better academic performance. But the correlation does not prove that getting more sleep directly improves grades.
The new study is considered important in this regard because an attempt was made to increase sleep duration through controlled intervention and after that academic outcomes were measured.
However, the researchers also clarified that the academic improvement was relatively small and further studies would be needed under different circumstances to confirm these findings.
Can benefit from easy intervention
Research indicates that very complex measures are not necessary to improve students' sleep habits. Simple measures like bedtime reminders and limited financial incentives can also motivate students to sleep more.
On university campuses, interventions based on sleep education, better scheduling, and taking into account students' lifestyle needs can support academic performance. However, based on this study, it cannot be said that an extra 19 minutes of sleep will result in the same improvement in grades for every student.
Overall, the research findings suggest that adequate sleep is not only a health requirement for students, but may also have a significant relationship with academic performance.